st: RE: RE: RE: RE: Replace missing values by 0

I'd put it this way.
If blanks that should be zeros are interpreted by Stata on input as
missings, then it's appropriate to map those missings to zeros before
analysis.
It's easy enough to show that this can happen, e.g. by copy and paste
from a spreadsheet to Stata's data editor.
Clearly, anyone doing this should be certain that it is exactly what
they want. If there are other genuine missings, replacing them by zero
is a very bad idea.
Nick
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk
Lachenbruch, Peter
But the original question was about missing values being represented as
0.
Use of a blank cell for 0 allows the confusion of missing and true 0.
At any rate, if you want to code missing as 0 that's a problem to my
mind.
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/